Which means, long term, we're without both our first choice central defenders and both our first choice central midfielders.

Alan Hutton.

Steven Pienaar.

We get despondent and can't rouse ourselves for the Milan or Arse games.

Season ends. Oh, apart from a humiliating 'battle for 6th' with Sunderland, whilst keeping an eye on who wins the cups, because that decides how many Europa Cup spots open up.

So, big game? You wouldn't have picked it out of the fixture list at the start of the season, would you? But it sure feels big. We need a fillip, and a reminder that we're actually not that bad.

We need to deliver a season that means a world class striker will join is in the summer, when presumably we can conduct our business with a bit more class and professionalism. We don't need a season that means we have to have a punt on Connor Wickham.

Oh, and a draw? Well that's about 75 per cent Slump, certainly more Slump than Blip. A Slimp, I guess.